ONE TON of black market ivory worth $2MILLION harvested from slaughtered elephants seized in New York City

Two New York City jewelers and their stores pleaded guilty on Thursday to peddling ornaments, trinkets and figurines made from tusks of endangered Asian and African elephants that were killed by poachers.

Following a year-long investigation, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and his office netted a cache of black-market ivory weighing more than one tone with a retail value upward of $2million.

Mukesh Gupta, Johnson Jung-Chien Lu and their respective companies pleaded guilty to illegal commercialization of wildlife, forfeited their ivory products and paid a total of $55,000 to aid the Wildlife Conservation Society's efforts to help threatened elephants.

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Haul: Jewelry and carvings were displayed during a press conference where Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced the guilty pleas of two jewelers for selling illegal elephant ivory with a retail value of more than $2million

Art of cruelty: Illegal ivory elephant charms and Buddha figurines were among the items seized from two Manhattan businesses

The jewelers' lawyers emphasized that the men admitted only to selling and offering ivory without a permit establishing it came from before the animals were protected in the 1970s.

But authorities and conservation experts said that much of the ivory was doubtless more recent and that stockpiling it in stores in Manhattan's diamond district inherently contributes to a worrisome boom in the illegal ivory trade.

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‘Poachers should not have a market in Manhattan,’ Vance said at a news conference, standing before a table laden 70 boxes bursting with ivory rings, bangles, complete tusks and little carved figurines of the elephants from which authorities say it all came.

‘If we only look at this issue as, 'Hey, I didn't have a permit,' and you ignore the consequences,’ Vance added, ‘you are fueling the trade of wildlife crime. You are encouraging and fostering the extinction of species.’

Exquisite: All of the ivory items, including these intricate carvings, came from Raja Jewels Inc land New York Jewelery Mart Corp

Bloody business: The number of elephants killed by poachers for their precious tusks, right, has doubled in the last decade

Despite international efforts to crack down on ivory harvesting, it is still in demand for jewelry, carved art and other items, authorities said.

A June report produced by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora said findings showed a rise in elephant poaching in the last decade.

New York state environmental law bans selling or offering to sell ivory without a special license from the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Training: Some of the seized ornaments will be used by law enforcement officials to train new agents how to spot ivory

Getting the license requires proving the ivory was harvested from before elephants were listed as endangered or threatened species in the U.S. The Asian elephant made the list in 1976, followed by its African counterpart two years later.

Trade route: Most of the ivory is poached in Africa and then sold to Asian nations, among them Japan, China and Thailand

Gupta, 67, is chairman of Raja Jewels Inc located on West 45th Street in Manhattan, a purveyor of pearls, unusual diamonds and other gems, according to its website.

As part of a plea deal that will spare him jail time or probation, he and the company surrendered about $2million worth of ivory and paid $45,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the Bronx Zoo and others and is known for its efforts to preserve wildlife around the world.

Gupta's lawyer, David Holland, said at least some of the ivory his client had for sale might have predated the 1970s deadlines. It remains unknown, however, where Gupta obtained the ivory.

Lu, 56, purchased the ivory items, ‘he knew the items were made from elephant ivory, and he described them as such to customers,' Russo told a court.

Lu and his business, New York Jewelry Mart Corp on West 46th Street, is giving up $120,000 in ivory and paying $10,000 to the conservation society.

Criminal trade: In 2011, almost 25 tons of contraband ivory was collected from around the world - the product of an estimated 2,500 slaughtered elephants

Law enforcement officials said that some of the seized ivory will be used for training and educational purposes, among them teaching new wildlife investigators to spot ivory products in the field.

Lu and Gupta’s arrests come after a record year for illegal ivory seizures. In 2011, almost 25 tons of contraband ivory was collected from around the world - the product of an estimated 2,500 slaughtered elephants – making it the worst year for poaching since ivory harvesting was banned in 1989.

Strict law: Ivory can only be sold by dealers who have a special license proving that the material was obtained before elephants were listed as endangered species

Most black-market ivory harvested in Kenya and Tanzania is bound for Asia, with China, Japan and Thailand among the top destinations, Vance said. It is used for billiard balls, piano keys, carved art and jewelry, authorities said.

The number of elephants killed by poacher has doubled in the last decade. Today, eight out of every ten elephant deaths is the result of poaching, compared with four out of ten deaths six years ago, the prosecutor's office said.

VIDEO: See the haul! $2 million of illegal ivory discovered in New York City...